Rick, a Los Angeles screen writer, begins a soul-searching journey to remember what matters to him. After the loss of a brother and growing weary of an overabundance of everything he could ever want, Rick realizes that none of it makes him happy. Searching for this elusive happiness, Rick drifts from relationship to relationship—each time searching, yet remaining just as enigmatic to those he encounters.
“Knight of Cups” is a movie that plays out like a collage of memories and images. The cinematography is beautiful, moving in and out and around things, focusing on smiles or the color and shape of shrubbery on the landscape. Throughout the movie, passages of poetry, books, and whispers overlay the visual experience. Those familiar with an isolation tank will find themselves leaving the theater feeling as if they have woken from a dream or come down from a mind-altering substance. Keywords like “artsy,” “philosophical,” and “cerebral experience”’ are good examples of what one might categorize it as.
Christian Bale is the main character Rick, and he begins a journey through social, intimate and personal experiences. He often times seems to be entirely alone, even isolated from those around him while he is walking right next to him. On his journey, he encounters men and women, played by Cate Blanchett, Frida Pinto, Antonio Banderas, Teresa Palmer and Natalie Portman, who come in and out of his life, each giving him a perspective on reality. Like the prince that the narrator speaks of, Rick seems to have forgotten who he is and seeks to find himself again.
If you are looking for a movie that is open-ended and will give you and your friends something to talk about afterward, go see “Knight of Cups.”
“Knight of Cups” was written and directed by Terrence Malik known for “Tree of Life” and “The Thin Red Line.”
In a conference call with the producers of “Knight of Cups,”– Nicolas Gonda, Sarah Green, and Ken Kao, a discussion about the meaning of the movie was brought up.
“I think we hope, like all of Malik’s files, they are a reflection of a viewer,” Green said. “I take away an idea about meeting in life and making sure in life we don’t miss experiences for being too busy. What we hope is that each of you will have a very strong sense of what the movie means to you and go discuss it with your friends.”
“I think that’s one of the remarkable things about Terry’s films –Terry has the ability to create stories and movies that allow people to apply their own life experience and influences and how they interpret the movie. We don’t want to force feed ideas about what the movie is about—it’s objective and to be viewed very personally and from various perspectives, “Green said.
There was mention that there was a lot of improv that occurred during the movie. “What you see is a lot of organic experiences between Malik and his actors,” Gonda said. “Malik sometimes only gives them lines and scripts or something else as reference. We have an on-going relationship with Malik and we had been talking about doing this movie during Tree of Life.”
When asked about what sources could be cited as inspiration for the making of “Knight of Cups,” the producers said that “It’s not any other work that [specifically] inspired it, but [was] deeply inspired by many things. In the story about the prince, he has to wake up from that spell and discover where he is meant to go in the first place. Waking up from our everyday routine and appreciate the spectacle that is life and the journey that we are all on individually.”
“Knight of Cups” opened in theaters on March 4, 2016.